This morning in the second floor butterfly room at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, several executives, physicians, staff members and child ambassadors gathered as the Nashville Predators Foundation donated more than $131,000 to Children’s Hospital.

“Our partnership with the Nashville Predators is a wonderful relationship, it’s a symbiotic relationship, where both parties really benefit,” Director of the Pediatric Oncology and Chief Surgeon at Children’s Hospital Dr. John W. Brock said during the presentation. “It’s wonderful that they raise money for us, but they also give their time. To me, that is incredibly important to our hospital and, more importantly, to our children.”

Even with the lockout-shortened season, the Preds continued to be committed to their partnership with Children’s Hospital, and were able to supplement fundraising through various efforts like: the SPHL game between the Knoxville Ice Bears and Huntsville Havoc in October of last year, the Nashville Predators Alumni game against the St. Louis Blues Alumni in November and the annual Hockey Fights Cancer initiative in March.

“Our partnership with Vanderbilt continues to humble every member of our organization,” Nashville Predators President and Chief Operating Officer Sean Henry said. “From the players to the executives to the staff, we are all very humbled and proud in supporting Children’s Hospital. We have more than 300 corporate partnerships, but our partnership with Children’s Hospital is the one we are most proud of.”

Tuesday’s donation allocated more than $100,000 to the Nashville Predators Pediatric Cancer Research Fund, which is a fully endowed fund created as a way for the Predators to give back to patients in need at Children’s Hospital.

“What we do every day is for the children, that is why we are here,” E. Bronson Ingram Chair in Pediatric Oncology and Director of Hematology-Oncology at Children’s Hospital Dr. Deb Freidman said. “Pediatric cancer in the large world of cancer is pretty rare. Unfortunately, because pediatric cancer is so rare, most of the research money goes elsewhere. Right now is the hardest time fundraising wise in the history of the fight against cancer. However, the reason we are curing nearly 80 percent of pediatric cancer is because of the research we’ve done, and that is a direct result of donations like this.”

Vanderbilt and the Predators first became strategic partners when they joined forces in 2008, with Vanderbilt signing on as the Predators integrated health care provider. Throughout the five-year partnership, the Preds have donated more than $700,000 and countless hours of community service.

“With this year’s donation, we have donated more than $700,000 to Children’s Hospital and its programs over the last five years, helping families receive the care they desperately need,” Henry said. “Donations like this would not be possible without the unwavering support of our players, fans and staff.”

For more information on the Nashville Predators Foundation and their partnership with Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital, please click here.